Tapered roller bearings have tapered inner and outer ring raceways as well as tapered rollers.

They are designed to accommodate combined loads, i.e. simultaneously acting radial and axial loads.

The axial load carrying capacity of tapered roller bearings increases with increasing contact angle α.

The size of the contact angle, which is usually between 10° and 30°, is related to the calculation factor e: the larger the value of e, the larger the contact angle.